


Everything Old Is New Again (Oh, and Doom's on Line 2)

by Medie



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Trans, Other, Stony Bingo 2016, Trans Female Character, Trans Tony Stark, mentions of implied transphobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-27 11:39:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8400253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: Christine sits there, notepad in hand, cameraman at her shoulder, and looks at them for a good solid minute (Tony counts) before saying, "You honestly expect me to believe this? You expect me to believe that you are Tony Stark, transformed into a female body by aliens, and that you've chosen to stay this way?"





	

**Author's Note:**

> for the "transformation" square of my Stony bingo. My thanks to the wonderful ficlicious for reading this and holding my hand. 
> 
> I wouldn't call it a warning, but I would advise that Christine gives the typical media summary of what they view as being trans to be.

Her reaction is simple. She likes it. 

Clint shrieks. Natasha smiles, then side-eyes Clint. Thor beams proudly and says something about the bravery of honoring one's inner truth. She's not sure, really, since she's still coughing from the slap to the back.

Hulk just grunts something about, "Pretty hair" on his way to the kitchen.

She's not surprised by Sam's gasp anymore than she is by the thousand questions that follow it. She just laughs and promises to answer all of them when she can. (Meaning, of course, when she actually figures them out herself)

And then, finally, there's the public. She doesn't exactly care about their opinion, she learned a long time ago that's a door best left closed, but they're going to notice sooner or later. Better to get out in front of it and be the one to do the telling instead of some paparazzo looking for their next score.

Still, there's getting in front of it and then there's getting in front of it Tony Stark style.

"You just can't resist poking the bear, can you?" Steve asks, indulgent in his amusement. "Really, Tony? _Christine_?"

"Hey," she spreads her hands, "at least no one will be able to accuse me of favoritism."

"Because she _hates you_." Steve walks around the console to wrap his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Saying she won't go easy on you is an understatement."

"I don't want her to go easy on me," Tony replies. "That's the whole point of picking her. Look, I know she hates me, Steve, but it's a win-win either way. If she does treat me fairly well absolutely no one will be able to claim it's a puff piece with any kind of credibility. Everyone from CNN to Fox knows she fucking hates me. If she does go over the line, well, the more she hurls at me now the less they can use later. Whichever way this goes, I don't plan on leaving any cover for the bigots to hide behind." She turns her head to look at him, smiling. "Besides, Christine's nobody's fool. She made a hell of a mess with Pepper, but she's come a long way since. I know full well it's not going to be easy, but that's the point. The easy part's behind us."

If only she knew.

Christine sits there, notepad in hand, cameraman at her shoulder, and looks at them for a good solid minute (Tony counts) before saying, "You honestly expect me to believe this? You expect me to believe that _you_ are Tony Stark, transformed into a female body by _aliens_ , and that you've chosen to _stay this way_?"

"A poor summary of it, but after a fashion, that is what she said, yes," Steve says, his smile the kind of tight that tells her she'll be ordering new punching bags later (in bulk). Not that she minds. "As for whether or not to believe it, we honestly don't care."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Naw, you should be begging Tony's instead," Clint flops down on the couch with a box in his hands. Sam's mom's latest care package. "She's just telling people so nobody has a shitfit when she pops out of the armor some day and some right-winger notices the arc reactor's sporting some new accessories." He offers Tony a cookie. "Speaking of— _Yeowch_! Cap, Widow stung me!"

Steve snorts. "You're lucky that's all she did."

"Relax," Natasha says, perching on the arm of the sofa behind him. "Ms. Everheart will edit that part out later." She fixes a look on Christine. "Right?"

Christine clears her throat. "I was promised complete freedom."

"Oh, of course they promised," Natasha smiles, "but I didn't."

"Play nice, Widow," Tony says, nudging the cookie box toward her. "That part was implied when you sat down." She raises a brow at Nat. "After all, between Stark Industries' influence and that of the Avengers themselves, we could make life extremely difficult for Ms. Everheart if we wanted to and the public knows that. Our assurances to the contrary aren't much, but we've given our word and we're going to keep it. Please?"

Natasha looks at Christine, assessing, then takes a cookie. It's as much as assurance as they're going to get.

"I don't see what's controversial anyway," Sam puts in, sitting on the other side of Steve and Tony has no idea where they're all coming from. "She never told people she was trans. So what? She's not obligated to bare every detail of her life with people. Especially not the ones who've made a career out of dissecting and judging every single thing she says and does. Can't blame her for wanting to keep _something_ to herself."

"Wouldn't even leave her'n'Cap alone," Hulk grumbles. Seriously. Tony cannot figure out where they keep coming from and how does _Hulk_ sneak up on a person? "Stupid paparazzi."

"We've been over this, big guy," Steve grins. "Those cameras are _expensive_."

Hulk makes a face. Tony sighs and gives him the whole box of cookies, not missing it when Natasha clamps a hand over Clint's mouth.

A _treasure_ , that woman.

"You seem distracted, Tony," Christine all but purrs. "Something wrong?"

"Just wondering where Thor is," she sighs, ignoring the way Steve ducks his head to hide the laugh. "He might as well join the party."

"Yes, he should," Christine agrees. "Everyone will be _dying_ to know how the Avengers really feel about this."

"You already do," Clint shrugs. "Tony's Tony; Iron Man's Iron Man. As long as she shows up and saves our asses on the regular, we're not really worried about what shape that ass is in."

Fucking perfect, thank you, but Tony's not about to say that out loud.

"Indeed, Hawkeye speaks for us all and quite well. You Midgardians are far too obsessed with each other's lives. What care have you to the form and titles others choose in life? Beyond one's preferred form of address, it has no bearing on your existence."

"Did I invent a teleporter that I forgot about?" Tony grumbles, looking at him. "Or are there portals that Avengers just randomly decided to start popping through?"

It really is getting ridiculous. If Fury shows up, she's going to repulsor him into a new incarnation.

Christine ignores her in favor of addressing Thor. "There are some, Thor, who would wonder what else she might be hiding. To keep something so fundamental as her gender secret until forced—"

"I was not aware that you had asked," Thor replies, sitting down. Thank God she thought to reinforce the couch. "However, that is no matter. She is under no obligation to reveal anything about her existence beyond her operations as Iron Man and as leader of this team. If, however, you wish full awareness of our existence, shall we begin releasing daily notices for all Avengers? Perhaps to our sartorial choices as well?"

"Huh, well, that's easy. Uniform most of the time right down to the tightie-whities." Clint smirks. "Unless it's laundry day, then it's commando."

Tony pinches her nose. "TMI, Clint. Way past, actually."

"Hey, she asked!" Clint pauses, sighs, then shrugs, "Well, she was about to ask. Probably." 

Tony really, really wishes she'd just bought a private island and made Steve her cabana boy. She didn't _really_ need to go public with this, right? She can control the suits remotely. So, all she's got to do is build a time machine and it's no tan lines and no worries, right?

When Tony looks up, Christine is biting her lip. Almost, maybe, like she's trying to hide laughter. "Are they always like this?"

"Oh, no, no, no," Tony sighs faintly. "This is them on their best behavior. Trust me."

"Do you know how terrifying those words are coming from you?" Clint asks, then yelps when Natasha's hand makes contact with his head. " _Natasha_."

Tony sighs, making a 'see what I mean?' gesture in their direction.

Christine blinks. "Wow, okay?"

"Look, Ms. Everhart," Steve leans forward, "We helped save an alien world, they wanted to express their gratitude, and they had it in their power to give Tony something she never thought that she could have. We're fully aware that some people don't approve, but frankly, none of us care. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and no one on this team would ever fault her for that."

"And what about you, Captain? There's been more than one question asked about the nature of your relationship with Iron Man. This must be quite an adjustment for you?"

Tony looks at Steve and he smiles back. "Not as much as you might think. There have been more than a few choices she's made that I've argued, but not this one. Never this one." He curls his hand around hers. "She's as beautiful to me now as she was the first time I woke up next to her." Which isn't exactly news. Sure, they've never publicly confirmed anything, but as Hulk'd so helpfully said, 'stupid paparazzi'.

"And that was—"

"A morning that is absolutely none of your business," Steve says, firmly, with all the solemn 'i'm disappointed in you, soldier' that only Captain America can manage. "Look, Ms. Everhart, it's as simple as this; she's the same Tony she was the first day I met her and I do hope that your line of questioning isn't leading to any questions as to anyone's orientation or genitalia." There's a glimmer of amusement in his eyes when he adds, "Not unless you're willing to answer a few of those as well? In the spirit of fair play of course?"

For the moment, all Tony does is smile at him while Christine falls all over herself to apologize. It's a good moment. After that, it's as close to smooth sailing as they can get. Mostly because they've practically run out of Avengers who'd be interested in crashing the party (seriously, if Ant-Man shows up she _will_ break out the bug spray) but Tony'll take what she can get. Which is a few more questions before she can shoo the Avengers off to wherever while she and Steve make small-talk with Christine while the camera crew packs up. 

As soon as the door closes behind Christine, Tony leans against it and gives a low, impressed whistle. "You really have to teach me how you do that thing with the face and the voice."

"Can't," Steve says, lofty and quite pleased with himself as he cleans up the mess. "National security. I'm sure you understand."

Which is the moment the pieces click and it's embarrassing to realize that she missed it that it's so obvious. She folds her arms beneath her breasts and raises an eyebrow at him. "So, who was the mastermind of this little stunt? It feels too smooth to be you. Friday?"

"I believe that I am to say that I am unaware of the stunt to which you're referring, Boss," Friday replies, and awww, she's learned how to lie. Tony's considering being proud, but really, no. Friday's learned how to lie _badly_ and, honestly, with a superspy in the house, that's just disheartening. Honestly, just observing Natasha alone should've made Fry better at it than this. 

"Yeah, you're never allowed to talk to Barton ever, ever again," she says, laughing. "He's a terrible influence on you." She points one hand at Steve. "You too. You're corrupting my little girl. This was supposed to be an evening with Iron Man and Captain America; a nice, simple interview to introduce the world to the new me. No one else was invited to the party and yet somehow the entire team managed to crash it?"

Steve closes the distance between them in a few strides and, holy god, that's never going to get old. All that intensity focused in on her and her alone?

"That is _not_ fair," she protests, voice faint, because he smells _amazing_ and it is damn distracting. "I'm trying to have a conversation with you."

"What?" he asks, all innocence, leaning against the door, framing her with his arms. "I'm just listening."

"You know what you're doing," she pokes his chest. "It's cheating."

Steve laughs, catching her hand in his and bringing it to his mouth. Seriously. The man is ridiculous. She's worse, because, yes, she absolutely goes weak-kneed when he kisses her palm. 

"All right," he says, holding her hand against his chest, "I confess. I told them, but they deserved a chance to be there. People need to know that who you were before this change is who you are now and they need to know that we're behind you on this. You don't need to fight every battle alone."

Which, okay, fair that he'd caught on. There's a reason she decided to have this little interview when Rhodey was incommunicado. Sure, she'd get yelled at later, but at least he'll avoid the worst of any fallout this might bring.

"The last thing the team needs is me dragging them into another of my messes," she sighs, sliding her hands up his chest to play with his collar. 

Steve responds by tugging her forward into his arms, hands sliding down her back to rest just above her ass.

Her lips twitch as she fights the urge to laugh. "And we're back to the cheating. Trying to give the kids a show, Captain?"

"They're old enough to know how to knock," Steve smirks. "And it isn't as if it would be the first time." 

"Well, sort of?" Tony gestures at herself. "Everything old is new again. All joking aside, I brought Christine in on this because she may hate me, but she will give us a fair shake. A lot more won't. I never told anyone about my gender or being trans for a reason. I didn't want anyone like me dragged into this and now they're going to be. Them _and_ you. I never wanted that for any of us."

"No more than we want it for you," Steve brings up a hand, cupping her face. "This is a deeply personal affair for anyone to go through, but with the whole world watching? No one should have a CNN panel analyzing the validity of their existence." He stops, looking at her. "Are you _laughing_?"

She pulls him in for a kiss. "You sound like some kind of PR pamphlet. You keep talking like that and there'll be folks all over trying to hire you." Closing her eyes, she leans her forehead against his. "I suppose I could do worse than Captain America and the Avengers in my corner."

"Well, with our luck, Doom will issue a statement tomorrow announcing you're still every bit the unworthy adversary you've always been. Heck, he might even be nice about it. Latveria has some of the best medical services for transgender health in the world."

"It's Doom," Tony shrugs. "If they're his citizens then they're going to get the best of everything. Wait—why do you sound like Doom knows?"

Steve winces. "Because he does? Called me this morning. Apparently he's very interested in the technology they used. Like I said—"

"Best medical services," she echoes. "Of course."

The more things change, the more they stay the same, and if nothing else, Doom is always consistent.

"We'll hook him up with their ambassador in the morning," she decides, looping her arms around Steve's neck. "In the meantime, I suggest we enjoy what little quiet time we'll have left before the news cycle gets tired of me." 

Steve snorts. "You're Tony Stark. The news cycle _never_ gets tired of you."

"That shouldn't be flattering and yet--" 

Steve cuts off the sentence with a kiss, lifting her off her feet as he does. "We're going to bed now," he mumbles into the kiss, barely breaking contact.

Tony's answer is to oblige him by wrapping her legs around his waist. 

Fuck everything, they're going to bed.


End file.
